Chris Christie Blames Fentanyl Problem on China

On Tuesday, November 28, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, the head of the White House’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis, said that China was responsible for the fentanyl problem that is flooding the streets and causing addiction and fatal overdoses in the United States.

The statement was made in Baltimore, Maryland, at a hearing for the House Oversight & Government Reform Committee.

Fentanyl is an extremely potent opioid that has been involved in more overdose deaths. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report published on November 3, over 5,000 Americans died as a result of an opioid overdose been July and December of 2016, and over half of those deaths involved fentanyl.

As addiction rates and overdose deaths continue to rise, the Trump Administration has appointed Kellyanne Conway to serve as the White House’s “point person,” while the Department of Justice (DOJ) advances several additional strategies meant to quell the Opioid Crisis. The strategies favored by the DOJ are legally based, and do not incorporate harm reduction of addiction recovery treatment.